1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to a technology suitably used for an apparatus configured to record a moving image and a still image in a mixed or mingled manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been known an apparatus configured to record a television broadcast program on a digital versatile disc (DVD). Recently, DVD video cameras configured to record a moving image or still image photographed by a camera on a DVD have been marketed.
In the case of recording a moving image signal on a DVD, moving image data is encoded according to an MPEG coding method to be recorded based on DVD-Video format or DVD Video Recording format (VR format). The moving image data thus recorded can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus such as a DVD player corresponding to each format. In DVDs, Universal Disk Format (UDF) is defined as a file system. Moving image data is recorded as a file compliant with the UDF.
On the other hand, still image data is recorded on a DVD as a still image file complaint with the UDF. Accordingly, a general DVD player capable of reproducing only moving image data of the DVD-Video format or the VR format cannot reproduce such still image data recorded on a DVD.
Under these circumstances, technologies have been developed to enable a DVD player to reproduce still image data by decoding still image data recorded on a DVD, then encoding the decoded data again according to the MPEG coding method, and converting the coded data into data of the DVD-Video format or the VR format to record it on a DVD (hereinafter referred to as “photomovie”) (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-201170, which corresponds to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0083414 A1, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-297229, which corresponds to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0208481 A1).
Wide-screen television or high-definition broadcast having an aspect ratio of 16:9 has recently become widespread. Accordingly, digital cameras have been marketed which can photograph not only an image having a conventional aspect ratio of 4:3 or 3:2 but also a still image having an aspect ratio of 16:9 to obtain a wide picture.
As described above, a still image having an aspect ratio of 4:3 and a still image having an aspect ratio 16:9 may be recorded on the same DVD in a mixed or mingled manner. Now, consideration will be given to generation of a photomovie from the still image data thus recorded.
FIG. 2 shows two still image data recorded on one DVD, i.e., a still image 201 having an aspect ratio of 4:3 and a still image 202 having an aspect ratio of 16:9. In the case of generating a photomovie from these still image data, for example, the image 202 is converted into an image having an aspect ratio of 4:3 by being uniformly padded on the top and bottom sides with a black image.
FIG. 3 shows images of a photomovie generated in this manner. An image 301 is obtained from the image 201 with its aspect ratio unchanged, and an image 302 is obtained from the image 202 converted into a letter box form having an aspect ratio of 4:3.
However, when the photomovie thus generated is displayed on a wide-screen television set, there may be a problem of impossibility of obtaining a good display result. That display result will be described below with reference to FIG. 4.
(1) When the wide-screen television set is set to display an image having an aspect ratio of 4:3 in the center of the screen by being uniformly padded on the left and right sides with a black image or the like, a display result 401 of the image 301 shows an object with an original aspect ratio. The entire image is displayed without being cropped. However, in the case of a display result 402 of the image 302, there is a problem of useless padding on the left, right, top, and bottom sides with a black image.
(2) When the wide-screen television set is set to display an image having an aspect ratio of 4:3 with an aspect ratio of 16:9 by stretching it leftwards and rightwards, there is a problem of horizontal extension of the aspect ratio of an object in a display result 411 of the image 301. In the case of a display result 412 of the image 302, there is a problem of leaving of useless black images in upper and lower parts in addition to the horizontal extension of the aspect ratio of an object.
(3) When the wide-screen television set is set to display an area having an aspect ratio 16:9 of the center by uniformly cropping upper and lower parts of an image having an aspect ratio of 4:3, a display result 421 of the image 301 shows an object with an original aspect ratio. However, there is a problem that the entire image is not displayed as its upper and lower parts are cropped. On the other hand, a display result 422 of the image 302 shows an object with an original aspect ratio, and the entire image is displayed without being cropped.
As described above, when a plurality of still images of different aspect ratios are recorded in a mixed or mingled manner, a photomovie generated from these still images may not be properly displayed on a wide-screen television set in many cases.